Techmeme
March 4, 2020, 4:25 AM

Top News

Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google says it will not host an in-person I/O event this year, due to coronavirus fears, and will instead offer a series of online events  —  Following a string of other tech cancellations in recent days, Google just announced that it will not host an in-person I/O 2020 over coronavirus concerns.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Sam Dean / Los Angeles Times:
Twitter says it strongly encourages its 4,800+ employees to work from home to avoid spreading coronavirus, the first major US company to do so  —  Twitter on Monday became the first major U.S. corporation to strongly encourage its employees to work from home to avoid spreading coronavirus.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Citing coronavirus concerns, Apple restricts employee travel to Italy and South Korea, following its similar restrictions for China  —  - Company sends memo to employees about Covid-19 response  — Sick employees told to take leave; virtual meetings encouraged
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Robinhood says recent outages were caused by an “unprecedented load” on its system, will waive Gold customers' fee for 3 months, ~$15, as initial compensation  —  It wasn't the leap year, a coding blip, or a hack that caused Robinhood's massive outages yesterday and today that left customers unable to trade stocks.
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
Jim Salter / Ars Technica:
Let's Encrypt discovers a bug in its Certification Authority Authorization code, meaning affected users need to manually force-renew certs to avoid downtime  —  Let's Encrypt users will need to manually force-renew once to avoid downtime.  —  On Leap Day, Let's Encrypt announced …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Legal tech startup Atrium is shutting down, laying off 100+ employees; CEO Justin Kan says Atrium failed to be more efficient than a traditional law firm  —  Justin Kan's hybrid legal software and law firm startup Atrium is shutting down today after failing to figure out how to deliver better efficiency than a traditional law firm.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Kuo: Apple is working on six products with mini-LED tech including an iMac Pro refresh for Q4 '20, a 7.9" iPad mini coming in 2020, and a 14.1" MacBook Pro  —  Apple has six mini-LED products in the works that are set to debut in 2020 and 2021, and production is not expected to be delayed by the coronavirus …
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
In an email to staff, Amazon says an employee at its Seattle headquarters has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the affected employee remains in quarantine  —  An Amazon employee at the company's Seattle headquarters has tested positive for the novel coronavirus spreading across the country …
Upmanyu Trivedi / Bloomberg:
India's Supreme Court strikes down central bank's two-year-old ban on cryptocurrency trading in the country  —  - RBI banned banking services for digital currencies in 2018  — Start ups, exchanges, industry body challenged RBI's directive  —  India's Supreme Court struck …
Alex Heath / The Information:
Sources: Facebook plans to use digital versions of government-backed currencies along with its Libra token for its Calibra wallet when it is launched in October  —  Facebook is scaling back its ambitious plan to upend the global financial system with a new digital currency.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
WhatsApp says a dark mode will become available for iOS and Android users today, after months of testing, on by default for users with system dark mode enabled  —  Facebook finally says hello to darkness  —  WhatsApp is finally getting a new dark mode on iOS and Android today.
Nat Levy / GeekWire:
Amazon says it will speed up same-day delivery for Prime members in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Orlando, and Dallas thanks to newly built smaller warehouses  —  Amazon today unveiled its latest initiative to speed up delivery times on millions of items for its growing cadre of Prime members.
Bloomberg:
iPhone maker Foxconn says it expects its Chinese plants to begin operating normally by the end of March, after the disruption caused by the coronavirus  —  - Hon Hai says its facilities are at 50% seasonal capacity  — The epidemic has disrupted Apple's finely tuned supply chain

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More News

Adrian Chen / New York Times:
Andrew Marantz / New Yorker:
Nitasha Tiku / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

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Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: